Analysts at Zacks Investment Research upgraded shares of W.W. Grainger Inc. (NYSE: GWW) from Sell to Hold today. The company currently has a rating of Hold on the stock. The one-year price target of $221.64 is above the opening price of $221.36, resulting a number of other analysts to comment on the stock recently. Looking back over the last year, W.W. Grainger Inc. stock has a high of $239.95. Share prices sometimes get a bounce to the upside when analysts upgrade a stock.

U.S. stocks closed higher Tuesday as investors anticipate the results of meetings from the Federal Reserve and the Bank of Japan.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA, +0.05% rose 9.79 points, or less than 0.1%, to close at 18,129.96.

The S&P 500 index SPX, +0.03% advanced 0.64 points to finish at 2,139.76, led by gains in the health-care and consumer-staples sectors.

The Nasdaq Composite index COMP, +0.12% gained 6.33 points, or 0.1%, to close at 5,241.35.

Shares of W.W. Grainger Inc. (NYSE: GWW) opened at $221.36 yesterday trading between $216.59 and $221.43, and last traded at $216.59, a drop of $3.98 compared to the previous closing price.

W.W. Grainger Inc. (NYSE: GWW) now has a market cap of 13.09B.

415,169 shares traded hands yesterday, 44 percent below the average, out of a total float 55,173,000. Swing traders often use increases in trading volume to determine heavy volume accumulation or dissemination by institutional investors, so look for trading volume to pick up in the coming days.

While an increase in trading for short periods will not mean much, however, a trend of heavy trading volume on the buy side over a series of days or weeks delivers a positive indicator to market traders that institutions may be moving in, so institutional sponsorship is very important.

Institutional sponsorship commonly refers to ownership of a stock by mutual funds, banks, pension funds and other large institutions.

These instituitional investors have teams of analysts researching thousands of stocks, so it is good validation to see them taking a postion in a stock you’re considering.

By marking the activity of these professional investors and how they influence moving averages, traders are able to make make the best trades.

Trades for W.W. Grainger Inc. (NYSE: GWW) have ranged from $176.85 – 239.95, and the stock now has a 50-day MA of $226.45 and 200-day MA of $226.55. Today’s last price is 0.10% lower than the 52 week high of $239.95.

Indeed, earnings growth is among the most crucial things to look at in regards to stock investing and, accordingly, investors seek companies that have grown their earnings at least 25% or more for 3 consecutive years.

DISCLOSURE: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the authors, and do not represent the views of the website. Readers should not consider statements made by the author as formal recommendations and should consult their financial adviser before making any investment decisions. To read our full disclosure, please see our terms and conditions page.